'Homeland': 'Is there no line, Carrie?'

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All it took was two sex sessions and a sob story about Brody and Francis before Carrie managed to crack Aayan in “Homeland.” But by episode 5 of Season 4, “About a Boy,” it’s clear Carrie Mathison has lost her soul for the sake of “the cause.” Is this really what the writers have turned “Homeland’s” complex heroine into?

It wasn’t the irresponsibly sent drone strike that made it clear Carrie lost her humanity, or the fact that she dragged Quinn back into the field with no care for his own safety. It was her total play of Aayan that solidified her as the most hateful person on “Homeland.”

Everyone else on her team, from Fara to Saul, is trying to play the game by Carrie’s rules. But she is playing by rules no one else can truly stick to, as she expects her lackeys to follow her on a course she isn’t even leading. In this case, that meant the loss of a mark and the loss of Saul, all because Carrie went silent for two days so she could seduce Aayan.

Even worse than her physical seduction of Aayan was her emotional one. Seeing her use the death of Brody and the birth of her daughter Francis as weapons shows just how much she has lost herself since she lost Brody. It’s hard to tell if her tears over realizing she is at fault for Brody’s death were real, or just something to play up to make Aayan sympathize with her — or worse, both.

Is Carrie being purposely written to be as hatable as she is? Her actions are despicable, and it’s worse to see her succeeding with such terrible behavior. This house of cards she is constructing is destined to come crumbling down sooner rather than later, and there is no one left to check her. Did the writers really decide that the best way to give the series new life post-Brody was making the audience root for Carrie’s downfall?

Carrie hasn’t always been the easiest character to like on “Homeland,” but in Season 4 she’s transitioned to something really ugly. She is the character to dread getting screentime. Quinn, Fara and even the Pakistani ambassador have storylines that are more enjoyable and rewarding to watch than Carrie. It’s clear Carrie has become a monster — and maybe she always was, though with Brody to balance her off that fact was easier to hide.

Hopefully it is the writers’ intention to make the audience want Carrie to fail, and there is some good payoff coming for this entire arc. However, there doesn’t seem to be some long plot con here like there was in Season 3, just Carrie thinking she is the best player when she actually has blinders on to the situation around her. The worst thing that could happen to Carrie during this storyline is to have her succeed, because then the audience will have to see her continually act in this manner for seasons to come.